Going Through the Refining Process Again

My favorite Bible Verse is Romans 8:28, “All things work for good to those who love the Lord and are the called according to His purpose”.  In life, everything we go through is not good or happy.  Everyone faces times of trial and testing.  No one escapes the ups and downs of life.  Life happens, we respond to life, but we must remember that God created life.  Our existence is a journey in time.  At the end of our physical lives our spirits will move on to another dimension.  We are spiritual beings on a physical journey.  In the scriptures, God promises that those who know Him will return to Him.  He is our creator; the One who gave us life.  We have met Him but realize that His ways are mysterious.  Ecclesiastes 11:5 says, “God’s ways are as hard to discern as the pathways of the wind, and as mysterious as a tiny baby being formed in his mother’s womb”.  We don’t have to understand the why’s of things we face; we just have to hold on to the giver of our life when He allows us to go through the circumstances of our physical existence.  When we know Him, we do not walk the road alone.  He will guide, direct, and walk with us through the happy and difficult times.  There is no perfect person; there is no perfect life.  In addition to life happening, we have been given free will and choices to make.  All of our choices have consequences.  Our genetics, our days, and our choices develop our character and belief system. 

God wants our bodies to be healthy.  He wants our minds to learn and develop in wisdom and understanding.  His primary concern is that we come to Him in spirit and in truth.  He wants our spirits to grow in our relationship with Him.  He wants us to know who He is.  He wants our spirits to mature.  He wants us to grow in the knowledge of the truth that our final destination will be back in His presence.  He gives us His gift of faith but it is up to us to receive and grow in His gift by reading and studying His Word.  He does not want us to just know about Him; He wants us to know Him personally as our Lord, Savior, and friend.  He is Holy.  When we recognize His Holiness we want to come into His presence in worship and praise glorifying His Holy name.

Psalm 66 tells us that God wants to grow and refine our spirits.  We read in verses 8 through 10, “Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; He has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.  For you, O God tested us; you refined us like silver".  I think of my friend Heidi when I read this Psalm.  The words were such an encouragement to her as she traveled through her trial with ovarian cancer.  God spoke to her through His word.  She knew that He was with her.   She read in verses 16 through 20 that He heard her prayers and saw her tears.  His Spirit was alive and real in her spirit and she could say, “no matter where this trial leads me, I will praise the Lord”.  Heidi did not win her physical battle but she did win her spiritual battle.  God refined her spirit and brought her back home to himself at the end of her physical life. 

James 1: 2-4 gives us more insight into why God allows trials in our lives.  He says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”.

1Peter 1: 6 and 7 tells us that through faith we are shielded by God’s power. “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.  These have come so that your faith, of greater worth than gold which perishes even though refined by fire, may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus is revealed”. 

It is in our trials that we prioritize our lives.  God molds our spirits.  He is the potter, we are the clay.  We read about this analogy in Jeremiah 18.  We are precious to God.  Because we are more precious than silver or gold He tells us that He is in the process of refining our lives in the fires of life’s trials.  Precious metals are refined by fire and so are we.